After the free day, the challenges for the championship gained speed. Two rounds left to the final, there were challenging games for the first three places.

Today in the game FM Burak FÄ±rat vs. Ege Ä°lkin of the U17 open category, black played the Symslov variation of the Caro-Kann defense. White's 16.Nd2! was worth mentioning. White could also play 16.Bxc4 but this gives Black counterplay. An example variation could be: 16.Bxc4?! g5 (16...Qxc4 isn't possible due to 17.Qd8#) 17.Qe4 Bb7 18.Qe2 Bxf3 19.gxf3 Bxh2+with mutual chances. Black replied to 16.Nd2 with 16...g5 17.Qh3 e5, opening the c8-h3 diagonal and trying to take advantage of the awkward position of white queen on h3. Another option suggested by the computer in this position was 17...Ba6 18.b3! Kg7 19. Nxc4 Nb6 20. Nxd6 Bxe2 21.Qg3!. It's quite clear that black has a bad position after the moves 19...e4? 20.Qf6 but it's not easy to say where black actually did wrong. Perhaps an alternative could be 19...Nxc4!? 20.Qxa8 exd4. After 23.g3 white is clearly better and won the game without any difficulties. With this win, Burak FÄ±rat is still the leader of this category with 6 points. Emel Kaya, who won her game today, became the sole leader of the U17 Girls category.

In the U15 Open category Nafis Talipov (RUS), Rail Makhmutov (RUS) and Ufuk Sezen Arat share the leadership, while WFM Adriana Pachon (COL) is still the sole leader of U15 Girls category with 6,5 points.

In the 6th board of the U13 Open category one of the sidelines of the Queen's Gambit's Slav Defense was played between Vasily Vasilyev and Ada Yilmaz. White sacrificed the c4 pawn, allowing black to protect this pawn with b5 and tried to create an attack in the center. White replied with 10.b3! to black's dubious move 9...Be7?! which was a typical and natural breakthrough on the queenside. The move 9...Bb4 which doesn't allow b3 was considerably stronger. White needlessly complicated the game with 14.a6?! instead of which he could play 14.Rfc1 a6 15. Ne4 achieving a slight but long-lasting advantage. Black found the right continuation and equalized the game after the worth-mentioning 17...b4!. After mutual errors on both sides in the later stages of the game white scored the full point. In this category FM Cemil Can Ali Marandi is the sole leader,
whereas Ayyyna Egorova (RUS) is the only player in the first place of the U13 Girls category.

In U11 open category Volkan Sevgi and Reza M. Asgharzadeh (IRI) share the first place. Zhansaya Abdumalik (KAZ) is the sole leader of U11 Girls without a loss.

In the important game of the U9 Girls category Khanim Asad Qizi Balajayeva (AZE) chose an active but risky continuation of the Scandavian Defense against her opponent Duru Okuyaz. Balajayeva played for a win with the black pieces although she's the leading this category with half a point ahead. This shows she's a candidate for a strong player. By the eighth move of the game all black pieces were very active and were exerting a hard-to-defense pressure on the white center. Although white tried to confuse her opponent with 9.Rh2? it was clear that white's position had various problems after 9...Bxf3. White couldn't capture the bishop with her own bishop due to 10.Bxf3 Qe5+ thus she had to accept the doubled pawns with 10.gxf3 and weaken her kingside. Black took advantage of these weaknesses and won the game rather easily. With this win Balajayeva keeps her leadership in this category. In the open category of the same age, Bora BölükbaÅÄ± and Rad Jannessar won their games and share the first place.

In the U7 Open category Kagan AydÄ±ncelebi and Saberi Kamarposhti Mahan (IRI) still share the first place. In the U7 Girls category Mayya Eliseeva (RUS) is the leader with 9 points.

Today The president of The Turkish Chess Federation Ali Nihat Yazici and FIDE Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos visited the tournament hall.

Players from The United Arab Emirates came to the round wearing similar clothes.

' Checking ma nails '

' I guess I will find the right move if I think a bit more '

There are many brothers and sisters playing in the championship and sometimes they face each other as opponents.